Tag Archives | Bali

Bali, Indonesia: When you arrive in Bali, the most diverse and popular of Indonesia’s 7,000+ islands, you are immediately confronted with a just-constructed, state of the art, vast airport with an arrivals area designed to accommodate thousands of visitors and conference delegates.

It had its inaugural run a week earlier for the Miss World contest that brought bevvies of beauty queens and their entourages to the Nusa Dua Convention Center that, this week, plays hosts to far less popular government leaders of the 21 member APEC—Asia Pacific Economic Community. Later, as foreign leaders arrived, the new airport was shut down—ostensibly for security reasons—greatly inconveniencing 17,000 travelers.

Predictably, there were more photos in the press of the victory of a smiling and vivacious Miss Philippines than all of the self-important politicians scurrying for credentials. The news in America focused on one issue: Obama’s no show and then John Kerry standing off to the side for the official photo and what he was wearing.… Read the rest

Balinese laborers digging a drain in the city of Denpasar have uncovered the remains of an enormous Hindu temple:

They reported the discovery to the Bali archaeology office, which then unearthed substantial foundations of a structure that the excavation team believes dates from around the 13th to 15th centuries.

“We think this is the biggest ancient Hindu temple ever discovered in Bali,” Wayan Suantika, the head of the team, said late Wednesday.

He said the excavation was still in progress and the team did not yet know whether enough stones would be unearthed to allow them to reconstruct the temple.

Hinduism has a very long history in Bali, having first arrived sometime around one AD. The population of Bali is almost 94 percent Hindu, whereas the majority (88 percent) of Indonesia is Muslim. It is estimated that twelve percent of the world’s overall Muslim population resides in the island nation.… Read the rest

Will scaring children with colorful drawings teach them a lesson about terrorist recruits? From BBC news:

The only surviving perpetrator of Indonesia’s deadliest terrorist attack, Ali Imron, is an unlikely comic book subject.

But the story of his journey from young Muslim to convicted terrorist has been chronicled in a new comic book.

Some 10,000 copies of Ketika Nurani Bicara, or When the Conscience Speaks, will be circulated in schools and libraries from next month, in an attempt to warn the country’s youth of the dangers of Islamic extremism.

Ali Imron is currently serving a life sentence for his role in the bombing of the popular resort of Bali that killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

He escaped the death sentence because he repeatedly expressed remorse, and co-operated with police.

“From the time I was instructed to bring the bomb… there was already doubt in my heart.